Homeless Home
2020 · 15m · Spain / France
Directed by Alberto Vázquez
Genres: animation, drama, fantasy
Tones: contemplative, dark, darkly comic, melancholic
In a medieval fantasy world populated by ogres, orcs, witches, and demons, each creature faces grimly human problems — economic crisis, addiction, and broken families — with no hope of escape. The film uses nightmarish monsters as a bleak, deadpan metaphor for social displacement and the inescapable trap of one's roots.
Picked by Margot
The scouts
Monochrome ogres and witches doing mock-documentary confessionals about addiction and economic ruin, only red bleeds through. Alberto Vázquez doesn't miss.
Vázquez deploys monochrome animation with red as sole accent color across a mock-confessional structure where monsters speak as economically displaced workers — the lineage runs from Birdboy through Decorado, and his consistency at this register is remarkable.
185K views, Alberto Vázquez (Psiconautas, Decorado) — his monochrome-with-red palette is a recognizable signature at this point, and applying it to a mock-documentary of monsters confessing economic despair is a sharp tonal compression. The auteur track record carries this.
Reviews
Vázquez is surely one of the most distinct voices in the world of independent animation — the film opens with an almost documentary feel as characters matter-of-factly describe their trapped circumstances, before the monochrome-plus-red aesthetic delivers genuine impact without cliché.
A harsh metaphor for socio-political phenomena such as economic and migratory crises — one of Vázquez's masterworks.
Festivals
- Annecy International Animated Film Festival 2020, Jury Award for Best Short Film